 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
| |
|
 Director of Research, Research Ecologist, Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix Arizona, USA
During the last 20 years, the most challenging and interesting research problems on which I have worked have involved collaborations with scientists from other disciplines, including geology and soil science. Knowledge from these areas has greatly broadened my understanding of the natural history and ecology of arid environments. Indeed, I realize now that there are so many ecological questions that cannot be adequately addressed unless the context of geology, soils, and soil hydrology is considered and understood. This multidisciplinary perspective not only leads to a growth of basic knowledge of arid lands, it also is necessary for dealing with many pressing conservation problems.
Research interests
- Plant community ecology
- Population ecology of long-lived perennial plants of deserts
- Plant-soil relationships and ecophysiology
- Multidisciplinary collaborations involving geology, soil science, hydrology, and ecology
- Paleoecology and paleoclimatology
- Ecology and conservation of semi-arid grasslands
|
|
 Bettina Koelle graduated with a Master degree at the Free University of Berlin (Germany) in 1997 and has been working as a development practitioner in the field for more than 15 years. With a strong passion for participatory approaches she has supported the development of various participatory methodologies to support an action research approach linking grassroots processes to global debate, specifically focusing on linking local adaptation action to the climate negotiations and the IPCC process by providing input and case studies from the field. In this context her focus has been on marginalized groups and especially women.
She is currently undertaking research towards her PhD at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) on anticipatory capacity and participatory monitoring and evaluation of community based adaptation projects.
|
|
 Lehman Lindeque is a Resource Monitoring Specialist at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Pretoria. He has 22 years’ experience in Natural Resource Management and is also actively involved in the Southern African Chapter of the International Erosion Control Association (IECA-SA), a non-profit membership organization.
Lehman matriculated at the Hoër Landbouskool in Kroonstad and after completing a Diploma in Agriculture, he continues his studies in Geography and Operational Research at the University of South Africa (UNISA). In 2006 he obtains a Master’s Degree at the University of Newcastle, Australia in Environmental Studies. For his Master’s degree he did a study on the use of systems thinking principles to improve the effectiveness of the LandCare Programme in South Africa.
His core responsibility at the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is to conduct research in order to deliver data, information and knowledge required for the planning, management and sustainable use of the natural agricultural resources. The last 4 years, Lehman has been actively involved together with the Agricultural Research Council, in the Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands (LADA) Project of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The LADA Project in South Africa developed, tested and implemented land degradation and conservation assessment methodologies at local, national and global scales.
|
|
South Africa-schooled (M.Sc. 1989, Ph.D. 1996), I have worked for the South African National Biodiversity Institute since 1983, starting as a desert ecologist and then shifting to a climate change focus in the late 1980’s. I now lead the Climate Change and BioAdaptation Program at SANBI. Through international collaborative work on global change research issues, I have co-authored more than 100 publications, including the popular book “A climate for life” published in 2008. I was co-lead author for the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th, and currently for the 5th assessment report. I co-chaired the CBD’s Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on climate change and biodiversity, with an assessment report published in 2009.
|
|
Matriculated in 1978 at the La Rochelle High School in Paarl.
Studied at the University of Stellenbosch where she obtained her B.Sc cum laude (1981), Hons. B.Sc cum laude (1982)en M.Sc cum laude (1984) in Plant Physiology. In 1990 at the age of 29 she obtained her Ph.D degree in Plant Physiology at the same university. During her Ph.D she spent some time in Münster, Germany, working with one of her studyleaders on her Ph.D. Although she was awarded a post-doc in Germany after obtaining her Ph.D in SA, she decided to stay in SA and do a post-doc at the University of Stellenbosch, which was followed by a career as senior table grape researcher at ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij. During 1998 she was promoted to Assistant-Director: Disease Management. In 2003 she left the ARC to be appointed as Deputy-Director: Research at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture at Elsenburg. In 2007 she was appointed as Director: Technology, Research and Development Services and promoted in 2012 to Chief Director. She is responsible for three Directorates (Animal Sciences, Plant Sciences and Research Support Services), 7 research farms and a staff component of 329.
She is currently the Department of Agriculture’s climate change representative on Provincial Strategic Objective 7 (PSO 7) “Mainstreaming sustainability and optimising resource-use efficiency” and its working groups on climate change adaptation and energy. She is also a member of the Green Economy working group of PSO 1 ”Maximising economic and employment growth”.
She has received several accolades during her career, including the Premier Service Excellence Award (2009), Honorary Membership of the South African Society for Enology and Viticulture (2009), (where she was also the first female Board member and President for several years), nominations as ARC Agricultural Science and Technology Woman of the Year (1998) and Business Woman of the Year Western Cape (2006) in the category Public Service. During her career she has shared many accolades with her management colleagues at the Department of Agriculture Western Cape, the highlight of which is the award as the Best Gender Empowered Department in the SA Public Sector (2010). She has also been recognised as Trailblazer (Young Public Sector manager on the rise) in the Public Sector Magazine in July 2012.
|
|
 David Ward is the author of more than 160 scientific papers and 16 book chapters. He is the author of “The Biology of Deserts”, published by Oxford University Press. He worked at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research in the Negev desert of Israel for about 13 years. He is currently a professor of Life Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg. His research focuses on dryland biology with an emphasis on the effects of bush encroachment as a source of desertification.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
